Tag Archives: Hemiptera

On Wednesday I was very lucky to be able to visit the Angela Marmont Centre at the Natural History Museum in London. The Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity is an amazing place for naturalists in the United Kingdom that is available for anyone to use. With such a range of resources such as the photo-stacking equipment; a huge library; and the whole of the British collections, it really is invaluable.

I have used the photo-stacking equipment here once before and I really do think it is a very clever piece of kit. It takes lots of photos (I took around 65 for each specimen) all at different focal points and then merges them together using software called Helicon Focus. With all of the different focal points on the specimen covered, there is no part of the specimen that is out of focus and it is all very sharp. This produces a clear image that can show many different features, excellent for identification or illustration of species.

I think that photo-stacking is incredibly useful for a number of projects. For example, if you were writing an identification guide and space was limited, you could in many cases show all the features of an organism in just a single photograph. Also for illustrating an article or a short piece of writing where there is a limit to the number of photographs, you could include just a single image with all of the key features clear and visible.

Below are a few of the photo-stacked images that I took using the equipment. You can find all of the images of the identified specimens on this page. I still have some photographed specimens that I need to identify, and I will post them on that page once I have put a name to them.

This Mirid bug is just 8mm from head to end of the abdomen. Its distiguishing feature is the two short spines on the hind femur. This separates this species and the very similar Stenodema laevigata.

This is the largest specimen that I photographed, 13mm. This rather big Carabid beetle was swept from a patch of nettles, much to my surprise!

This is a very small Elaterid, or click beetle, only 4mm long. When they are threatened they often roll onto their backs and catapult themselves upwards to escape predators and they make a ‘click’ sound as they do so.

About me

Hi, I’m James. I’m 14 and I have a HUGE passion for nature. I’m a trainee bird ringer, I do Longworth Trapping, I’m an active member of ispotnature.org (my username is jimmymac2), I go moth trapping, I visit all my local nature reserves, I like to call myself a conservationist and I love recording all the wildlife in my garden and ‘local patch’.

My Twitter Feed

Follow by email

Promoting…

http://www.fungi.org.uk/index.php
fungi.co.uk is an amazing forum for mycologists all over the British Isles. It's not just fungi either! There are flowering plants, trees, lichens, non-vascular plants and invertebrates and there will be more to come! There are many expert mycologists currently using the site, which means quick replies to any of your queries and you can always rely on them too!

YouTube Channel

My Youtube channel (copy and pasting the link works best):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_fQCWuXoJajgSN4M-3x6gA
I am trying to upload new videos regularly, about wildlife in my garden and beyond.
Don't forget to subscribe!